


This Is Not A Joke

by WithoutForesight



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (perceived), Angst, M/M, On the surface, Pining, Post pacifist, Stretch and Edge are friends, Unrequited Love, but is it...?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:35:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25687429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithoutForesight/pseuds/WithoutForesight
Summary: A calm night with a good friend.
Relationships: Papyrus/Papyrus (Undertale), Spicyhoney
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	This Is Not A Joke

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this [beautiful poem](https://dumbgaybabylmao.tumblr.com/post/624973881706512384/facinaoris-letters-from-medea-salma-deera)

The summer air felt hot and humid.A breeze carrying the smell of pine and soil, lingering hints of porch fires and charcoal, clung to their bones like the light washing over them from the old floodlightabove the back door.

The shallow woods looked back at them, it’s darkness softened by the cast of pale moonlight on a clear night.Above them, the stars so luminous and plenty, sparkling so vividly.So very different from the false ones they wished to underground.

Many things were different on the surface than in the underground.But no stars shone quite as brightly as the one sitting next to him.A star in supernova, burning crimson red, the intensity of his magic impossible to look away from, so captivating, so extraordinary.

He kept his voice smooth, lilted with relaxation despite his frantically pulsing soul, as he leaned toward the other.A joke, something clever, something with quality far above what he would offer anyone else, just to see him laugh.

And he did.Almost.

Languidly, he rolled his head to the side, covering those sharp teeth with equally sharp fingers, smothering laughter into chuckles. 

_‘I love you.’_

It ached in his chest and his bones.But he said nothing.

A scarlet flush burned across that scarred face and those wild embers of his eye lights turned back to his friend when he leaned closer to offer a response.

Something infinitely more clever than he could conjure, affection burning over his soul and up his vertebrae, dancing out in the form of laughter, unrestrained.He couldn’t hold it back, couldn’t risk letting those words morph into the unstoppable desire to push forward, to crash their teeth together, to pull his closest friend closer in every sense of the word and present his sentiment wordlessly.

_‘I love you.’_

And eventually, the evening ended back where it began.His best friend, standing in the doorway, speaking goodbyes instead of greetings, his voice filling the room, filling the skull of the monster he smiled so softly at, filling even the night, it seemed, despite his volume sounding hardly above a whisper. 

Oh what he would give to ask him to stay, casual, cool, and hear that low rumble of a voice respond, ‘ _alright_ ’.

But even as the words ached in his chest and those beautiful hooded cat’s eye shaped sockets blinked at him tiredly, patiently, all that he could manage was,

“goodnight.”

He never watched him leave.Couldn’t bear it.Closing the door, he pressed his forehead against what coolness it could offer to tamp down the heat of frustration ensnaring him.Listening to the distant click of a car door, the distant hum of an engine, the distance growing until all was silent.

“i love you.”He whispered.

“ _i_ _love you._ ”He choked.

Soft orange tears streamed down his face.He watched as they fell into the carpet.

What a terrible joke.

**Author's Note:**

> I also have a [spicyhoney blog](https://dumbgaybabylmao.tumblr.com/). Come say hi 👋


End file.
